Buried Mountain Secrets

by Terri Reed

  Except a love to call her own.

  Her gaze slid to the man sitting atop the beautiful horse, then away.

  Alex was fair, committed and honest. Almost dogged in his quest to find the truth. All traits that made for an honorable, respectable sheriff. Alex would make a good sheriff, she decided, and refused to consider what else he’d be good at. She looked back at him. “I, for one, will vote for you if you do run for sheriff.”

  Alex’s gaze touched her face like a caress, sending a series of delighted shivers over her skin. “I’d welcome the vote. However, in Bristle County, the sheriff is appointed by the mayor.”

  “Well, if I ever get a chance to put a bug in Mayor Olivia’s ear, I’ll let her know that I one hundred percent support you.”

  “I appreciate your support,” he replied with a smile that tugged at her heart. “I’m going to take Truman out for some exercise. Would you care to join us?”

  “Yes.” The admission came without hesitation. Remembering every thrilling moment of the last time she’d sat on the horse with him had her heart pulsating with energy. “Let me put this away—” she held up the mug in her hands “—and grab a jacket. I’ll be right back.”

  He nodded. “We’ll be here.”

  She hurried inside, mentally telling herself this would be okay. It’s just a ride around the ranch. Nothing to get worked up about. She set the mug in the sink, grabbed her down jacket and carefully slipped it on. Her arm was already so much better than it had been after her fall from Truman, but she still needed to baby her shoulder.

  On her way back out the door, she paused and said, “Hey, guys, Alex and I are going for a ride.”

  “Can I come?” Brady asked.

  “Not this time,” she said, her gaze meeting Frank’s. Heat crept up her neck at his amused and pleased smile.

  She left the house and hoped Alex would think the blush staining her cheeks was from the chill in the air.

  Alex had dismounted and stood beside the large horse. Her heart skipped several beats at the sight of the two males. So majestic and handsome.

  “Up front you go,” Alex said, stepping aside so she could reach the horse.

  She approached Truman and grabbed ahold of the pommel with her good hand. Alex moved behind her and placed his hands on her waist to boost her up. Her lungs stalled, and she forced herself to breathe deep because there was no way she was going to let Alex know how he affected her. The last thing she needed was for him to be aware that she was falling for him.

  The thought made her foot slip from the stirrup.

  Wait! What? Falling for Alex?

  “Something wrong?”

  His voice cascaded over her as awareness of his big body close to her shimmied across her skin, heating her from the inside out. “No,” she choked out. Yes. She was falling for Alex big-time.

  Don’t think about that now, she chided herself as she allowed Alex to help her up into the saddle.

  Truman held still as Alex settled on the back of the horse.

  “Shouldn’t I be in the back?” she practically squawked when one of his arms encircled her waist while the other reached around her to take the reins.

  “It’s easier this way. Plus, I can hang on to you rather than you putting pressure on your arm to hang on to me.”

  Sounded reasonable. Delightful. Scary. She held herself stiffly away from him. Her sore shoulder tensing as her heart thudded in her ears. She put her hands on the pommel and willed herself to relax in the seat because she didn’t want Truman or Alex to realize how completely unsettled this situation made her. As they started walking toward the pasture, she wondered what had ever possessed her to think this was a good idea.

  * * *

  Alex ushered Maya out of the evening church service, keeping her close as the throng of attendees filed into the night through the open double doors. She’d been subdued all day after their ride that morning.

  At first, she’d been so tense in the saddle he thought he’d blown it big-time by asking her to go for a ride, but eventually she’d settled back and seemed to enjoy the outing. He’d shown her the full extent of his property. When she’d asked what his future plans for the place were, he’d had no answer but her question stuck in the back of his mind.

  Coming out of the church behind them, Frank stopped to talk to Pastor Foster. The two men seemed to be old friends. Alex vaguely remembered his father saying he had been meeting with the pastor.

  “Brady will meet us here,” Maya told him as they stopped on the sidewalk outside the pretty white steeple church building. “It’s our usual plan.”

  “I’d rather we found him,” Alex said as he searched the dispersing crowd. He saw mostly locals, men and women he knew, but here and there were faces he didn’t recognize. Not unusual given the Harvest Festival. Some folks stayed through Sunday and traveled on Monday, when the roads would be less congested. He thought he got a glimpse of two of the treasure hunters, Roger Dempsey and Claire Owens, but they melted into the night.

  “This way,” Maya said, and led him around the back of the church, where there were several classrooms for various ages of children. “The room the sheriff’s department commandeered is usually used for the junior high kids,” she said. “But now all the preteens and teens are in the community room.”

  The community room was actually a gym with hardwood floors, basketball hoops and a stage set up at one end for a worship band. Long tables in the middle were being used by several kids making crafts.

  Brady saw them and left his place at the table with a paper craft in his hands. “Look, we made pinwheels.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Maya said. “We’ll put that in the garden this spring.”

  “Hey, boss.” Chase approached Alex.

  Shaking his head, Alex resigned himself to putting up with the moniker. “Hey, Chase. What’s up?”

  “I saw you walk by our new digs. I found something that might be of interest.”

  The need to know what Chase had discovered warring with his determination to stay close to Maya and Brady must have shown on his face because Maya put a hand on his arm. “You two talk. We’ll be over there.”

  Grateful for her thoughtfulness, Alex smiled. “Thanks.”

  She turned to Brady. “Show me how you made your pinwheel.”

  Brady tugged her back to the table of craft supplies.

  As soon as they were out of earshot, Chase said, “So after you told me about the freerunning, I did a little more digging into our five friends and discovered that each one of them has done some sort of acrobatics.”

  “That would lend itself to freerunning.”

  “I thought so, too,” Chase said. “The two women were cheerleaders in their respective high schools. The Smith brothers actually are acrobats. They perform with a smalltime traveling show that is a knockoff of the one that’s so famous in Vegas.”

  Anticipation revved in Alex’s veins. The Smith brothers rose to the top of the list of suspects. He wanted to have another chat with the two men. Remembering Maya had said Truman had head butted one of the masked men, Alex was curious if either of the Smith brothers had a large bruise over their sternum.

  “The last guy, Roger Dempsey, is a bit more of an enigma. He’s a wrestler and track star. Even the dentist was a gymnast in his college days.”

  Because Weber was deceased, he was obviously ruled out as being one of the masked men, but the common thread of athletics might have been what drew these people together. What other activities did they do as a group besides hunt for buried treasure? What secrets did they hide?

  “I want you to search the databases for any crimes that could be attributed to freerunning. See if you can connect anything to any of these five people.” Alex had a feeling in the pit of his gut that there was more to explore with the group. “Also, check the hotel to see if any of them
are still in residence. And if so, I want them in on Monday for a follow-up interview. If not, track them down.”

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  Alex appreciated Chase’s can-do attitude. “What about the Delaney brothers? Anything of note there?”

  Chase’s mouth twisted. “After their mother died, Ian and Nick went to boarding schools in Europe. Ian went on to graduate from the London School of Economics while Nick was asked to leave several colleges. Apparently, he wasn’t cut out for academia. He finally managed to graduate from a small private university in Virginia after a large donation to the school from Patrick Delaney.”

  None of that surprised Alex. “Any connections to parkour or freerunning?”

  Chase shrugged and shook his head. “Not that I can find. Ian was on a rowing team and now plays tennis. He’s quite good and competed at Wimbledon. Nick’s more into girls than sports, from what I can glean on social media.”

  “Thank you for the info.” He clapped Chase on the back. “You do good work.”

  Chase grinned. “Thanks, boss.” He turned on his booted heel and strode off, then pivoted. “Oh, I almost forgot. That sedan that tried to run you off the road was found in the next county. Wiped clean. It had been reported stolen a week ago.”

  A dead end there.

  Alex stayed rooted to the spot, his mind going over what he’d learned. On the surface, it appeared the Smith brothers were his most likely suspects, but he couldn’t rule out the Delaney brothers or the other three treasure hunters. The Delaneys had the most to lose if someone found the treasure. But how desperate were the Smith brothers to be the ones to claim the prize?

  * * *

  Monday morning, Maya insisted on opening the store. “I’ve lost too much profit by being closed half of Friday and over the weekend.” Her bank account couldn’t take another hit.

  She and Alex stood at the kitchen sink, finishing the breakfast dishes together while Brady was outside in the garden with Frank. She liked being here with Alex and his father. Brady was enjoying it, too. She worried that when it came time to leaving later today, Brady was going to have a hard time coping with the loss of the two Trevino men.

  So was she, truth be told.

  But it was time to go home. Despite her realization that her feelings for the handsome deputy had progressed to a place where she feared she’d never come back from, she had to keep the situation in perspective. It was natural to develop tender emotions for Alex. All this time spent together. Wasn’t there some psychological phenomena about people falling for their protectors? Or did it only happen with a person’s captors?

  Whatever the case, falling in love with Alex wasn’t a wise decision.

  “Just stay closed until tomorrow, after the security alarm is installed,” Alex countered, taking another dish from her to dry.

  The alarm company was sending out technicians today to the ranch, the store and her childhood home. “I need to be there when the alarm guys arrive. I might as well open.”

  Alex put the dried dish away in the cupboard and set the dish towel down. “I can meet them. Kaitlyn or Daniel will be here to oversee the installation of the ranch’s security system and to keep you and Brady safe.”

  “No. Brady and I need to return to our house and our lives. He has school.”

  “That’s not a good idea,” he countered.

  “You really think someone would try to harm him at school?”

  He didn’t answer but kept his gaze steady on her. Acid burned in her stomach. “Fine. I’ll call his teacher and get his assignments. But we are going to the store. And to my house. No one is going inside without me present.”

  His mouth tipped upward at one corner. “You can be stubborn, you know that?”

  She gave him a saccharine sweet smile. “One of my many admirable traits.”

  He coughed, but she had a suspicion it was to cover a laugh. “That is true.”

  Wait. She was being sarcastic. Did he think she had admirable traits? What were his feelings for her? The questions hammered at her, matching the frantic beat of her heart. Oh, boy. Better not to let her mind go down that twisty path.

  “I—I’ll go get our things packed,” she stammered and backed out of the kitchen.

  As it turned out, Frank also accompanied them to town, saying he wanted to pick up a book he’d ordered from the library.

  On the way into town, the security company called with their estimated time of arrival. Because they were traveling from Boulder, it would be in the afternoon before they could get started on the installations.

  When they arrived at the store, Maya had Alex bring Brady’s smaller desk out to the front of the store so he could do his schoolwork and be within sight at all times.

  “What can I do to help?” Alex asked as she went about the task of opening the store.

  Having help was a commodity she wasn’t used to. “Right now, all I can think of is to straighten the shelves. I didn’t have time to do that before closing up on Friday.”

  He nodded and moved down the aisles of hardware, lining up the hammers, organizing the various sizes of screwdrivers and paint supplies. Maya tried not to watch the way he moved with agile grace. He wore his sheriff’s uniform again today and she found herself missing the worn jeans and flannel shirt.

  The bell over the door dinged. Ethan and Bess Johnson walked in. Glad for the distraction, Maya greeting them. “Ethan, Bess. So good to see you this morning.”

  Bess took her hands. She was in her early seventies but looked much younger with her dark curls and vivid green eyes bracketed by gentle laugh lines. “My dear, I was horrified to hear about your troubles. Are you doing okay?” Her gaze slid to Alex, who was arranging the birdseed.

  With a smile, Maya said, “We’re in good hands.”

  Ethan went to Brady’s side. “What are you up to, young man?”

  “School stuff,” Brady said. “We’re learning about solar energy. The sun could power our lights.”

  “That would be something,” Ethan said.

  A loud squeal of tires on pavement reverberated through the store followed by the horrific sound of metal meeting metal.

  Maya rushed to the window. Two cars were locked in a crumpled embrace in the middle of Main Street. “Alex! There’s been an accident.”

  Alex raced to the front door. He skidded to a stop. “Don’t leave the store,” he instructed. “I’ll be right back.” He pushed through the doors.

  Maya stood with Ethan and Bess, watching as Alex ran to the crash site. Her heart cried for the drivers of the cars. She lifted up a prayer that there were no fatalities.

  The bell over the door dinged. She swiveled to greet the incoming customers and found herself facing two familiar faces, and one of them held a gun.

  SIXTEEN

  “You won’t get away with this.” Maya’s heart hammered in her chest as she and Brady huddled together on the back passenger seat of a black SUV. The vehicle sped north, taking them out of town. She tried to keep as much distance as possible from the woman kidnapper next to her.

  Ignoring them in the front seat were the man and woman who’d entered the store right after the collision. They had been a part of the group who’d helped Brady down from the mountain.

  The man, who had held the gun in the store, had ordered Maya and Brady and the Johnsons to the back of the store, where they locked the poor Johnsons in the office. They’d then forced Maya and Brady into the awaiting vehicle that was now being driven by the brunette woman named Claire, the treasure hunter who’d stopped Maya and Alex on the sidewalk the night of the sheriff’s department fire. Had they set the blaze?

  Beside Maya, the blonde woman, Sybil, cackled. “Looks like we already have gotten away with this. Taking you two was easy.”

  “Alex will find us.” Maya put her arms around Brady and held him close. He sho
ok with fear.

  From the front seat, the man named Roger turned around to wave the gun at them. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. He’s got to be busy with the accident.”

  A thought occurred to Maya and horror cut her breath in half. “You caused that accident.”

  He grinned. “Maybe.”

  “Roger, where are we going?” Claire asked.

  “Pull over at that turnout,” he replied.

  Claire brought the SUV to a halt. Roger pointed the gun at Brady. “Now, tell me where the treasure is buried. I know you deciphered Ned’s nonsense in his journal.”

  With a sinking feeling, Maya asked, “How do you know about that?”

  “We have our ways,” Sybil said with relish.

  Somehow, these people had been spying on them. Maya shuddered, totally creeped out.

  “I won’t tell you,” Brady said, ducking his head into Maya’s shoulder.

  She tried to shield him as much as possible.

  “Oh, you’ll tell us,” Roger said. He shifted the barrel of the gun toward Maya. “I’ll hurt your sister if you don’t.”

  “Maya?” Brady looked at her with fear in his almond-shaped eyes. Her heart hurt for him.

  “Go ahead, Brady. Tell them what they want to know.” The treasure wasn’t worth anything to Maya. They could have it for all she cared.

  “Okay.” Brady explained that he thought the treasure had been buried somewhere on the back side of Eagle Crest Mountain. Ned Weber had been looking in the wrong place.

  “That wasn’t so hard,” Roger said. He faced forward. “All right, then, Claire. Do you know where you’re going now?”

  The car didn’t move. “Are you sure we should be doing this?” Claire’s voice wobbled with nervousness. “What if something happens? If we are caught, we’ll go to jail.”

  “Stop being such a big baby,” Sybil said, smacking the back of the driver’s seat with the palm of her hand. “We won’t get caught.”